The Startups Hoping For A ‘maha’ Boom

A few weeks ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, and Marty Makary, the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner, announced plans to ban eight commonly used petroleum-based dyes from food products in the U.S. Kennedy envisions far more changes ahead in his crusade to force American food companies to change, including removing items like soda and candy from SNAP benefits and revamping the approval process for new food ingredients.

If even only a small portion of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda comes to fruition, what appears on our plates could change pretty dramatically. The wave of change stands to put enormous pressure on existing food and beverage conglomerates like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola to quickly alter their businesses.

But Kennedy’s plans also present a moment of fertile opportunity for a swath of startups that have already been trying to capitalize on consumers’ growing focus on ingredients and health—and five of the most significant ones are highlighted below. For these companies, a MAHA boom would be a golden age.